Apple released the third beta of its iOS 7.1 software (build 11D5127c) to registered developers today. Apple released the first iOS 7.1 beta for developers in November bringing with it a handful of UI tweaks, performance improvements, and accessibility features. That release was followed by a second iOS 7.1 beta in mid-December which brought button shapes as an accessibility feature as well as a calendar design mirroring iOS 6 and prior.

We’ll update you of changes as we come across them. Leave us a note in the comments or at tips@9to5mac.com if you find something interesting as well.

Zoheb: You’re using beta software that is available to only developers who pay for that early release software(99$, usually and annually). Unless you have paid for that or are using a developer device, Tallest Skil’s statement is not exactly wrong.

>>Yeah. It is. Read any law ever written and shut up.
ehmm, not. copying or jailbreaking it is not stealing in any law ever written. luckily, a copyright infringement, but that’s not stealing in any way, or did Apple lost their beta because somebody stole it?. so much arrogance and scandal for a small comment.

Yeah I don’t see any problem with what you are doing either. Stealing (pirating) only applies to software that you have to pay for. Since iOS updates are free, if you have a way to get early access to just have fun and see what’s coming up, I don’t see how it’s a problem. You are the only one that could be harmed by it. (If it bricked your device.) Apple isn’t out any revenue. You aren’t trying to sell it. You are just checking out an early release.

yeah best downgrade to 7.0.4 and rejailbreak if you don’t want to get suddenly stuck without a phone. I don’t know if I’d call getting a copy of a beta stealing. It’s not like Apple charges for it when it’s released and he’s not using it to develop any kind of app with intention of making money himself. I think you guys are being a little hard on him. I for one am not a developer but I do pay for a dev account to be able to run betas for my own amusement (although not right now as I want to keep my jailbreak). But I don’t really have a problem with him doing it for his own personal use. It’s not like he pirated a copy of Windows or something. For all you guys know he has a friend who IS a dev and just registered his device so he could play around. Don’t be so quick to judge people.

There is just so much wrong with iOS 7 that I’m not even interested in point upgrades anymore. I will simply wait and hope that iOS 8 actually fixes things and makes things more useable. It needs more than bug-fixes and UI “tweaks” it needs some large-scale rethinking to a large degree.

– the horrible grey, muddy pull-down from the top that provides no useable information and is so ugly it burns your eyes just to look at it.
– the horrible semi-transparent pull-up that provides access to a bunch of features I don’t need, but then ruined access to the one feature I actually do need all the time every day (brightness)
– the labels that are actually buttons and the buttons that are actually labels
– the fact that in many apps the “back button” is a tiny left facing chevron located exactly in the area where the hardware is tuned to “ignore touches.”
– the absolutely hideous, black animation that happens when you are downloading/loading an app.
– the loss of cover-flow view in iTunes (which I used every day, multiple times a day)
– the fact that cover-flow wasn’t replaced by anything that could actually be considered a useable replacement (that served the same or similar function in a reliable way). Turning the phone on it’s side now only shows a random and incomplete display of album covers.
– the re-worked “remote” app which now can’t stay connected to AppleTV for more than a few minutes at a time.
– the re-worked Safari app that is such a UI mess that it would take paragraphs to describe.
– game centre still cannot be effectively disabled
– clock app still won’t let you set a clock for any more than a few dozen cities world-wide (this was actually broken in iOS 6)

… and not technically anything to do with iOS 7 … but why, why, why can I *still* not get rid of “swipe to open”? On a privately owned iPad, that never leaves the house it’s entirely, completely, and stupidly redundant.

I, and I think many others, have absolutely no problem with any of the “issues” you mentioned. To be perfectly honest I find most of them to be incredibly nitpicky. Sorry to say you’re in the minority here, Chief.

Mr Grey is right.. you guys are wearing the emperors clothes. If you think iOS 7 is an improvements you are insane. The software has never been as unreliable, hard to use and just plain inconsistent. Don’t be clouded – you don’t have to look very far to find problems. I have always loved Apple – been a fan since 1980. We have been though this “New Thinking” before and it cost them big then… and will cost them big now (except this time there will be no one to save them). As momentum dies Android will continue to kill iOS – and idiots like you who pretend nothing is wrong will be the cause of it.

When something new and a big comes out, people always latch onto the small, debatable weaknesses (e.g. I like the aesthetic, you don’t) rather than remembering the past versions objectively. iOS 7 does have a few UI quirks, let’s not forget all the annoying crap about iOS 6 that has been improved:

-the lock screen Aqua UI took up about 50% of the screen!
-app-switching was a song and dance with a complicated force quitting scheme; it also controlled Music and Airplay, but was hidden away to the left
-the weather icon perpetually displayed 73 degrees; the clock always 10:15
-to adjust simple things like brightness and Bluetooth, you had to quit the current program, go to the correct page, and launch a separate Settings app (or unlock it if the phone was locked)
-Safari could open 8 pages, but no more; the bars and buttons took up about 1/3 of the screen; Private Browsing required a trip to the Settings app
-iPad had a FaceTime app, but not the iPhone
-app updates had to be initiated manually (though possibly all at once)
-search required swiping left of the first homepage, something novices often didn’t discover
-SMS/iMessage only showed timestamps for the recent messages
-there was no iOS-to-iOS file sharing mechanism
-the camera app had zero filters; the Camera Roll was one gigantic pool of photos
-ringtones were limited to grating “real world” sound effects like church bells and dogs barking
-Siri was unable to adjust settings
-folders were only one page, and could contain no more than 12 apps (Games 1, Games 2, anyone?)
-a simple reset allowed a thief to use/sell your phone

Am I the only one who enjoys iOS 7, and is glad that our biggest points of contention are “the fonts should be thicker” or “I wish the button’s text had a square around it”? Sheesh, people just love to complain and shoot down new stuff. iOS 7 is an enormous improvement, sorry if you don’t like the new look – a lot of people didn’t like iOS 6 either!

Yes, agreed with Mr. Grey. I also think iOS 7 from a distance looks more like a kid drew it.. iOS 6 was more.. more intelligent and more serious looking. And also, not only Game Center can’t be effectively disabled, but it looks horrible with those bubbles.. I liked it more in iOS 6.

Truly. Whatever bugs Apple is fixing in 7.1, and limited new features, it is not fixing performance issues the way a jailbreak of 7.0.4 can do right now. Apple is keeping the animations way too slow and it makes navigating iOS 7 infuriating. Solution: jailbreak and install HiddenSettings7. It unlocks the hidden (Apple created) tester settings which allow to change animation speed infinitely with a simple slider. And yes, they can be lightning fast and fluid, even on ‘slower’ iOS devices.

I hope the next ios7 release fixes the volume control switch. As it is, it doesn’t matter if it’s on or off, you can still raise and lower the volume. Sucks when you don’t get calls if you bump the volume controls thinking it won’t change BUT DOES! Can you pass this along 9-5 Mac?? Thanks!

Not at all a fan of the new phone and dialer redesigns….in fact, I think it’s awful. What are they doing? Are people really fat fingering the answer/decline and call/hangup buttons so much they have to reduce them to circles? And the new slide to answer/slide to unlock…ugh.

Phone App > Keypad (Dialer) > Start entering a number
You will see a new + button on the left to save the phone number.

Really useful! Why?????

How many times have you dialed someone’s number and called them just to put the number in your Recent Calls? Now you can input someone’s number and create a contact right then and there without going to Contacts first.

I am not a 7.1 beta user, but I would like to know if the Camera flash issue is being addressed (or already been taken care of). Infact, I am not sure how many users are facing this issue, but the Flash simply doesnt work sometimes. Using 7.0.4 on iPhone 5

If you choose “motion off” while setting a wallpaper, does it not zoom in on the picture anymore?
Also, does this mean I can set the parallax effect off, but still have the zoom in/out animations on folders and app opening/closing, or does it still disable everything like the “reduce motion” option does right now? Thanks.

Some other changes not posted here:
New flash icon in the Camera app that appears in dark environments
Control Center and Notification Center have more of a bounce when they appear
There’s a bug in the Notes app that prevents text from blurring behind menus.

“It has some changes related to setting wallpaper. Parallax can be disabled for wallpapers (found when setting new wallpaper).”
I don’t think that this, however, changes the way iOS 7 zooms in the selected wallpaper. Also you have to wait till may be March for iOS 7.1 to go public. I would suggest that you use this app which has lot of wallpaper related options like creating blurred, gradient, dotted gradient, color wallpapers & more. And also fixing the zoomed wallpapers. You won’t waste a dollor on an app that just fixes zoom wallpaper. If you are interested. Its Wallax App.https://itunes.apple.com/app/wallax-scale-resize-make-your/id722262021?ls=1&mt=8

Beta 3 does change the way wallpapers zoom. After tapping the “motion off” button simply pinch to zoom out and you can see the whole picture (or at least as much as the aspect ratio of the photo will allow, you can’t zoom further than the edge of the photo).

Can anyone with an audiobook check if Apple has corrected the problems iOS7 created. Namely, are chapters viewable again; and is there a scrub bar for each chapter rather than the almost useless single scrub bar that makes it a PITA to try to find one’s place. There is also a problem of the music player not finding the correct place to continue the book once you have moved to another app, or switched to bluetooth and back again.

I find the new shift colors confusing and maybe backwards? To me white denotes off and dark on, it’s especially confusing as the backspace color has a white logo by default, but the #+= button has black text along with 123 mic and return.